Numerous insects spend all or part of their life in the soil. Insects of this kind are known to cause serious damage to crops because they attack either seeds planted in the soil or already developed roots.
These parasites include a certain number of diptera, such as flies:
Crucifer flies (Hylemyia brassicae, Chortophila floralis) PA1 The carrot fly (Psila rosae) PA1 The onion fly (Hylemyia antiqua) PA1 The seedling fly (Hylemyia cilicrura or Phorbia platura) PA1 The grey corn fly (Leptohylemyia coarctata) PA1 The frit fly (Oscinella Frit) PA1 The rice fly (Hydrelia spp.) PA1 The asparagus fly (Platyparea poeciloptera) PA1 The endive fly (Ophiomyia pinguis)
And flies which pupate in the soil, such as cecidomyiae and trypetidae. Parasitic diptera of the type in question also include crane flies and bibios (Bibio hortulanus). Soil parasites of the type in question also include coleoptera, such as elaters or elateridae (Agriotes spp.), cockchafer grubs (Melolontha spp., Aphodus and Heteronychus arator, Costelytra zealandica) and oryctae, symphiles such as Scutigerella sp., myriapoda such as Blaniulus sp. and mole crickets, such as Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa.
The control of all the above-mentioned parasites, known as soil parasites, involves serious problems in agriculture on account of the need to find products which are persistent enough in their effect to remain active for several months. The most widely used insecticides for this type of application have long been the so-called "chlorinated" insecticides such as DDT, Endrin, Dieldrin, Aldrin, chlordane, hexachlorocyclohexane, whose effect against parasites of this type is remarkable.
Unfortunately, insecticides of this kind generally have high toxicity levels and, above all, excessive stability which results in the presence of residues over prolonged periods of time which in turn results in the appearance of extremely troublesome cumulative phenomena. These phenomena and pollution control measures have prompted numerous countries, including the USA, to introduce partial or complete bans on the use of many of these compounds, thus depriving farmers and horticulturists of means of controlling many ground insects.